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Thursday, 27 December 2007

PIC Project Components

The easiest way to develop PIC projects is with a purpose built development board like the one pictured to the right. This particular board was a kit purchased from Maplin Electronics for under £30. Its main features are its ability to program multiple size PIC chips through the serial port of a computer, simulation of outputs using LEDs connected to PORTB, simulation of inputs using de-bounced momentarily on switches.

I chose to use a cheap LCD display for this project for two reasons, firstly because I don't really know what I'm doing and don't want to break an expensive one, and secondly I'm hoping cheap = simplicity to interface. The model I chose to use was a N25AZ Alphanumeric Module.

Unfortunately most LCDs do not come with PCB friendly connectors which means that it is necessary to hand solder some form of connector onto the front. This is simple but care must be taken not to melt any of the near by plastic when soldering as the pads are very close to the bezel.

The underside of the module is impressive to look at but the main reason for showing it is to illustrate the soldering of the connectors to the panel.